Guidebooks
Lonely planet 
Order the Lonely Planet Cuba for 15.99 US$! (Edition 7/2000)
Order the Lonely Planet Havana for 11.99 US$! (Edition 3/2001)
Order the Lonely Planet diving & snorkeling for 13.56 US$! (Edition 10/99)
Footprint Handbook Edition 8/2000
Order the Cuba Footprint Handbook now for only 15.96 US$!
Hotels and casas particulares
HotelsWhen booking a package tour, you will stay in one of the state-run hotels.
It's not always easy to book a room in one of the hotels even if they have vacancies, because often the booking of rooms is done centrally in Havana, and the local hotel cannot rent rooms independently.
If you want to stay for 3 nights in a hotel, state this very clearly when checking in, otherwise they might rent the room for the next day and you'll have to leave.
The
Nash Travel site has a good description of upper class hotels.
Casas particulares Cubans can rent rooms for tourists in their house or apartment. Since january 1998 the government raises monthly taxes on rented rooms. It can vary between 100 till 200 dolars (depends on the city) even when the owner had no customers that month. The government will prevent that there is too much money (dollars) under the population and also discourages the renting of rooms. It’s better for them to have tourists in the overpriced state-runned hotels.
A renter has to declare how many rooms he rents, if he offers a mealservice or not etc. Every infraction will fine 1000 dollars. A renter has to have a license so ask for it to show you if you have doubts. Official casas have a white sticker with blue or red triangle on the door.
The accommodation is different :
- fan / airco
- private or shared bathroom with warm / cold water
- private enterance
- meal service
If a hustler take you to a house, he will ask about 25% commission for each night
Some of these casas have their own website:
-
Kubareisen has 2 in Habana, 3 in Boca Ciego and 1 in Santiago de Cuba
- Another good site "
casa particular" has over 150 links to casawebsites all over Cuba. It's made by a belgian who's married to a Cuban.
- Another option is
http://www.casaparticular.com More websites can be found in the Habana chapter.
General attitudes towards travellers Most travellers say that they are regarded by the Cubans as walking dollarprinting machines. Nevertheless, this should not scare you off since most Cubans are very friendly. and can you blame someone wanting to earn a dollar after he helped you out with something? People at the casas particulares are invariably very friendly, and will do everything to make you feel welcome.
However, there have been several reports now that since 1/99, contacts between locals and tourists are discouraged by police, and some travellers even state that Cuban friends of them will not walk together with them on the street. This is especially the case for Habana.
WARNING - it seems hustlers are asking to meet visitors where they are staying to deliver letters to their friends abroad - it is NOT a good idea to tell strangers know where you are staying. If you feel like helping, meet in public places. They may be trying to gauge your confidence and gullibility.
Restaurants/food
Don't expect to find any 3-star restaurants in Cuba. The food is mainly basic and tasteless. Pork, chicken or beef with rice is what you'll often get.
You can usually have breakfast and dinner in the casa particular. Expect to pay between 3 and 3 US$ for breakfast, and 8 and 10 US$ for dinner.
You also have
state-run restaurants, but service is generally slow and they are overpriced.
Since 1995 Cubans can run a private restaurant called paladar. Many have no sign outside and some are illegal because they have no permit. Most of the time there is no menu and prices are not fixed. You can sometimes get lobster, although this is illegal since lobster is preserved for the hotels. Expect to pay between 6 and 8 US$.
Safety
Cuba is a relatively safe country. You can stroll around at midnight in any city, but as anywhere in the world, you should be wary of petty crime. We were hassled a bit by 4 youngsters, but no harm was done. We met 2 French women who got their bag with money, credit card and driver's license stolen, and an Italian couple also had almost their camera stolen.
Still, with tourism increasing, there are now increasing reports on robberies, especially in Habana, so take care. Use your common sense: don't expose your wealth, leave valuables is a safe place etc...
Medical matters
Malaria There's no malaria in Cuba
Hepatitis A If you travel with a backpack and don't mind eating in cheap restaurants, it's easy to catch Hepatitis A. Chances of getting infected range from 1/300 to 1/50 per month depending on your standard of travelling. It's not dangerous, but you will be sick for some weeks.
There is a good vaccination for Hepatitis A nowadays, so ask your doctor. You need 2 shots (used to be 3 shots) at 0 and 6 months, although if you can it's even better to postpone the second shot till after 12 months. They are expensive, but they protect you for 10 years.
Hepatitis B You can only get this through sex and blood transfusion. Since prevalence of Hepatitis B is much higher in SE Asia then in the Western world, it might be wise to get vaccinated.
Get your shots at 0, 1 and 6 months. They are equally expensive as hepatitis A.
Typhoid fever There is also a good vaccination consisting of 3 pills to be taken every 2 days. Take them early enough before you leave since it's better not to combine them with malaria pills, although these guidelines have recently changed (meaning you can combine them). The vaccination works for 3 years.
Travellers diarrhea It might be a good idea to have antibiotics at hand in case of diarrhea. Take Ciproxine 250 mg two tablets at once and then another 3 tab
lets, one tablet every 12 hours.
Weather
| Temperatures in degrees celsius |
| |
JAN |
FEB |
MARCH |
APRIL |
MAY |
JUNE |
JULY |
AUG |
SEPT |
OCT |
NOV |
DEC |
| National Average |
26 |
26 |
27 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
32 |
31 |
29 |
27 |
26 |
| Havana |
22 |
22.5 |
23 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
28 |
27.5 |
26 |
24 |
22.5 |
| DAYS WITH RAINFALL |
| Havana |
6 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
7 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
7 |
6 |
| Wet Season: MAY - NOV / Dry Season: DEC - APRIL / Hurricane Season: AUG - OCT |
What to take
Some reports say it's a good idea to bring some toilet paper as this is hard to find (Cubans simply wash each time the went to the toilet). However, we found that our casa particular always had toilet paper, so no problem according to us.
Snorkeling and diving
(info provided by Mac Tavish, Canada, Geert Jordens, Belgium and Caroline, France)
Order the Lonely Planet diving & snorkeling for 13.56 US$! (Edition 10/99)
Guardalavaca Super dive shop and dive masters, great beach with shade trees, excellent swimming (you don't have to hike a km to get to swimming depth, and great snorkeling about 200 m off the beach. No boat required for snorkeling. Also a scenic area.
Maria La Gorda (Caroline) It’s is a beautiful place at the extreme west of the island. A very long beach in a protected zone.
Only one hotel with a small number of bungalows. The hotel is quite expensive (40$/night for a double) for a bad service and specially very "commercial" ... in other words they make you feel that you are there to pay, which is quite unusual in Cuba. No possibility of eating anywhere else.
They have 51 diving sites and most of them are supposed to be excellent. A lot of marine life and definitely amazing variety of corals. Very sain environment !
Diving is very expensive , 38US$ for a dive with equipment. They don't respect any safety regulations here (they take anybody to 20m or more whether you are an experienced diver or not a diver at all...).
Mayanabo (Santa Lucia) Reef 2 km offshore. Nice beach.
Only one diving centre is still open,
Sharky's friends. The equipment is very well maintained and soon they will have again a new big boat (the former on became out of use) to make longer excursions. Various wrecks can be visited and also a visit with sharks can be arranged.
Price :
- lowest fare (decreasing progressively) 26.25 US$ / dive
Rental material 5 US$ / day
- Tel (31) 462301 : Jorge Gonzales Pelaez
- Accommodation : best place to stay is
Hotel Vila Tararaco at 20 US$ / night which incl. breakfast
Playa Ancon (Trinidad) Snorkeling about 200 meters offshore - Good diving, whale sharks have been seen regularly (Mac Tavish).
Price : 50 US$ for 2 dives without the wet-suite (not necessary at all), rather cheap for Cuba. The wet-suite can be rented for 10 US$ / day. Equipment is soso (geert Jordens).
Absolutely crap and extremely expensive (48$ for a dive including good equipment), from a safety point very bad as well as the service (instructors were not really friendly). The site is not interesting at all, no marine life and black coral without any variety. Wet suit absolutely necessary as the water is around 25°C. (Caroline)
Playa Giron Not recommended. Some interesting snorkeling at a lagoon that was a mix of fresh & salt water. Poor beach, swampy countryside.
Varadero Diving & snorkeling require a longish boat ride to marginal sites.
Language
It's good to have a basic knowledge of Spanish, since a lot of people don't speak any English. this is certainly true for the hosts at the casa particular and the staff of trainstations and airports.
It is possible to follow Spanish language courses in Habana and Santiago. Check out this website for more info. PS: I didn't check out this organisation myself, but the website is good
Go on to Habana Go on to Vinales For questions on
Cuba send an e-mail to
Steven Buvens.
